144, 000 mile service coming up.

[tom]

Time to get my hands dirty. I need a cam belt but not yet the tensioners and water pump. The spare rack in the shed has been stripped and cleaned. The gearchange bellcrank needs a felt washer to quieten it and the rack, an axial joint and boot kit. The rest of the suspension, new struts and spheres notwithstanding is awful, clonking and rattling. That means droplinks, bushes and balljoints so expect bad language
Once I have done the front end, I'll need to fit a clutch in the spring and when that happens, I'll change the engine mountings to get back as much smoothness as possible.
Plan A was to spend about £600 and pull out the engine to replace the Octopus but the car will be much improved if I spend less than half of that, without compromising reliability, so common sense has at last prevailed.
It ain't broke, see?
Now if I could just stop looking at 2.5 turbo2s on Ebay...

[Oscar]

Tom

I've fallen for a 2.0 manual turbo XM around the corner. SWMBO likes it too (it matches her favourite top!)

So I know how you feel....

O

[Way2go]

Plan A was to spend about £600 and pull out the engine to replace the Octopus

My Indy Cit Garage only charged me £150 to replace the Octopus & he did it with the engine and drive shafts in place. At that price it wasn't worth getting dirty for!

[ken newbold]

I don't mind getting dirty for £150

[Philip Chidlow]

Ken - Don't suppose you want to work your magic on my GTi Auto next year (if I decide to keep it). That'll hopefully not be too dirty - but you never know

[tim leech]

I have citroens that need work too ken lol

[MULLEY]

Hey u lot, leave my mate Ken alone, everyone should know that i have 1st dibs on Ken's expertise. Only Joking by the way......

Sob sob, no one ever wants to ask me for help...... i can do all sorts these days, well at least 3 things:

1) Take alloy wheels off & put back on.
2) Service rear number plate lights
3) Clock speedo's

I think that's it so far, thats 3 more things than at the beginning of the year. So should only take 53 years at current rate to get upto Ken's level.... lol

[DLM]

I don't mind getting dirty for £150

Said Ken - and I agree. Lifting the engine in the approved fashion makes a considerable difference to access - as does driveshaft removal. I did 2 octopi in a row for a friend as a "learning exercise" and didn't manage to turn the air very blue in the process.

[tom]

Once again Way2go, you didn't read it all before having a go at me.
Plan A was to spend about £600 and pull out the engine, a job that I'm quite capable of doing myself.
Plan B is to spend about £2000 and do everything that will need doing to make the car as new because now I do need tensioners and a water pump with 170,000 coming up.

[Ian_Fearn]

Spend 2 grand Tom, it'll still be the cheapest motoring you'll ever have!

[Kitch]

Can't really give an opinion as theres no mention of what the £2k would be used on. In fact I can't think of a way of spending that on a BX, other than a respray

If you wanna do a full on overhaul then engine out....every time. Its not all that bad to pull out and so so so much easier to work on when it is. Do the lot, HG, stem seals, rings, octopus, clutch, gearbox recon?

I dunno, I'm just winging it...I'm only young

[roscoe]

I'm curious - what is the 'approved' way to lift the engine to change the octopus? I figure mine has about reached the end of it's 'patchability' and will need to be replaced in the not to distant future - and I don't fancy pulling the engine to do it. Removing the driveshaft on drivers side is no problem - figured that one had to come out anyway - but how much can you lift the engine to get clearance to the top of the subframe to get at the octopus? Does that also give you clearance to the doseur valve returns, steering rack returns, etc. which seem pretty well hidden?
Have currently managed to stop all leaks again due to the alternator belt breaking and cracking a couple of the return lines, but expect this to be a temporary situation

[docchevron]

Depends how brave you are mate! I've always managed well with just removing the O/S driveshaft, but if you unbolt the lower and upper engine mount you can get a fair amount of lift on the engine before things get stressed. The exhaust will have to be disconnected at the manifold if you wana go really high! The octopus is easy enough to change without lifting the block at all though, the fiddliest bit is attaching the two front to back plastic return pipes over the subframe, unless you've got nimble fingers or decent long nose pliers, I'm not nimble so use pliers!

Cheers
Chris G

[roscoe]

Thanks Chris
I'll have to do some serious de-greasing under there first and find all the ends of the octopus before I start pulling things apart. Also have to make sure I can get one here from a Citroen stealer - haven't got a lot of faith that they'll have one in stock in the country or want to order one in (at a reasonable cost)!

BTW, have you managed to pop the oil temp sensor in the post (the used one)?

cheers, Brian

[tom]

Actually, it is easy to spend a couple of thousand on a BX;
Four struts, Four wheel bearings, rear arm bearings, two balljoints, Wishbones, spheres, track rod ends, axials, hardydisk and gaiters. Discs, pads and calipers. Doseur valve, Driveshaft seals and driveshafts. Engine mountings, Tensioner kit and water pump, Hydrorincage, octopi, sundry pipes, Flexibles, Handbrake cables. That is the running gear. Brakes driveline and suspension.
Then there will be the radiator and its plumbing and finally a new windscreen. Although it might be possible to phase the job over a longish period of time, to get the car to drive like a new one, all these bits need to be done at the same time and careful tallying will show that I'm already a long way over that budget.